Australian linked to Bulgarian bus bombing

The Federal Government is remaining tight-lipped over revelations that Bulgarian authorities are hunting an Australian terrorist linked to a suicide bombing of an Israeli tourist bus last year.

Bulgaria has issued an arrest warrant for an Australian man it says has links to the militant group Hezbollah.

Reports say the Australian was the accomplice of the suicide bomber who carried out the July attack, which killed five Israeli tourists and the bus driver and wounded more than 30 people at a resort on the Black Sea coast.

Bulgaria's interior minister says three people were involved in the attack, two of whom had genuine passports from Australia and Canada.

Immigration Minister Brendan O'Connor told ABC's Radio National that intelligence officials were working on the matter, but he would not say if authorities knew the identity of the Australian involved.

"I was just recently briefed but that goes to intelligence matters and operational matters. It's something I can't comment on at this point," he said.

"This is a very significant matter in Bulgaria and of course those matters must remain confined to intelligence agencies. We work with other governments and other agencies to do what we can in that area."

The Bulgarian government has reportedly asked Australian security services for help and was told the suspect was not on Australian territory.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) says it hopes the Bulgarian investigation helps bring the perpetrators of the bombing to justice.

DFAT also said that the Australian Government condemns all political violence and terrorism and that attacks on civilians are reprehensible.

Fake IDs

Bulgaria's interior minister says there is data showing the financing and connection between Shiite militia group Hezbollah and the two wanted men.

"What we can make as a justified conclusion is that the two persons whose identity we have established belonged to the military wing of Hezbollah," Tsvetan Tsvetanov said.

He said the two Hezbollah operatives had lived in Lebanon since 2006 and 2010.

Bulgarian investigators made the conclusions on the basis of three fake Michigan drivers' licences, made in Lebanon.

They were used by the bomber and suspected accomplices between their entry into EU member Bulgaria on June 28 and the July 18 attack.

"From these three fake personalities, we established beyond doubt two persons' real identity. ... We traced their whole activity on the territories of Australia and Canada and we have data for funding and complicity with Hezbollah," Mr Tsvetanov said.

Hezbollah has denied involvement but the European Union's law enforcement agency, Europol, says forensic evidence and intelligence suggest otherwise.

"From what I've seen on the case from the very strong links, obvious links to Lebanon, from the modus operandi of the terrorist attack, from other intelligence that we see, I think that's a reasonable assumption," Europol director Rob Wainwright said.

"I also have my suspicion at least that either Hezbollah itself is responsible for this or it was carried out by people that are closely associated with that group.

"I think that's quite significant because if indeed it's subsequently proven that this terrorist organisation was responsible for this attack, then it would be the first time that Hezbollah has carried out a successful terrorist attack in Europe since the mid 1980s."

DNA evidence

The bus was carrying around 40 Israelis who had just arrived at Burgas Airport.

Witnesses described a huge explosion followed by a fire which ripped through the bus.

Bulgarian investigators managed to recover DNA and fingerprints from the bomber's remains, along with a fake driver's licence in the name of Jacque Felipe Martin.

The young Caucasian-looking man was also caught on airport cameras resembling a holidaymaker, wearing shorts and carrying a backpack.

His computer-generated image and DNA data were run through Interpol databases but failed to find any match.

Canada is taking "very seriously" the alleged involvement of a Canadian passport holder, foreign minister John Baird said.

"We urge the European Union and all partners who have not already done so to list Hezbollah as a terrorist entity and prosecute terrorist acts committed by this inhumane organisation to the fullest possible extent," he said

'True nature of Hezbollah'

Israel and the United States have long pressed the European Union to blacklist Hezbollah and on Tuesday both reiterated their stance, as did Canada.

US president Barack Obama's top counter-terrorism advisor John Brennan, his nominee to lead the CIA, said the attack exposed Hezbollah as "a terrorist group that is willing to recklessly attack innocent men, women and children, and that poses a real and growing threat not only to Europe, but to the rest of the world".

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said the EU should now draw the "necessary conclusions about the true nature of Hezbollah".

"This is yet a further corroboration of what we have already known, that Hezbollah and its Iranian patrons are orchestrating a worldwide campaign of terror that is spanning countries and continents," he said.

Just after the bombing the EU rejected calls to change its designation of Hezbollah because of a lack of consensus among its 27 members.

Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati said that his Hezbollah-run government was "ready to cooperate with Bulgaria to shed light on the circumstances" of the attack.

Hezbollah is the most powerful faction in the current Lebanese cabinet and its militia is the most powerful military force in Lebanon.